An outdoor unit of an air conditioner is sometimes installed in a narrow space due to architectural circumstances and the like. In this case, an adequate space is not available between an outlet side of the outdoor unit and a wall surface of a building. Thus, there is no adequate air outlet passage on the outlet side of the outdoor unit, causing an increase in draft resistance. Accordingly, a radial velocity component of an outlet flow from the outdoor unit increases, while its axial velocity component decreases.
The configuration of an outdoor unit installed in a narrow space as described above is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 4-251138 (see PTD 1). In PTD 1, a ring is mounted on an outlet port of an orifice. This ring has an inner diameter dimension slightly greater than an outer diameter dimension of an impeller, and has the shape of a drop of water in cross section.
According to PTD 1, an air flow blown obliquely from the impeller is caused by the ring to be blown along an inner circumferential surface of the ring and a wall surface of the outlet port of the orifice, thereby not causing degradation in performance of a blower and an increase in noise.